Various apparatus which form and fill gable top paperboard cartons are known in the prior art. For example, the Cherry-Burrell packing machine, Model H-75, is a standard in the field. The Cherry-Burrell machine forms a paperboard carton having four sides and a bottom, partially folds the upper ends of the sides of the carton into a gable top, fills the carton, and completely folds and seals the gable top. The Cherry-Burrell machine operates continuously in an assembly line-type manner, such that cartons are formed and filled one by one in the machine at stations which each perform a small task on the carton in under one second, before the carton moves on to the next station.
Gable top cartons of this type, though, have disadvantages when they are used to store and dispense liquid products such as milk, juice, etc. Specifically, the gable top can often be difficult to open correctly without accidentally tearing the carton, and, when the top is reclosed, it fails to provide a liquid-tight closure and thus allows spillage of the liquid if the carton is accidentally tipped over or shaken.
Accordingly, it has become desirable to place a releasable closure on a sloping side of the gable top in place of opening the gable top, wherein the closure is more easily opened and is liquid-tight when reclosed. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,640 to Ando et al discloses a method of attaching a mouthpiece 34 to a gable top carton 20, wherein the mouthpiece is pushed through an aperture 32 in a sloping side 28 of the gable top carton 20 such that the mouthpiece 34 is held to the side 28 by a flange 46 and retainer lugs 48 of the mouthpiece 34, and wherein the flange 46 is then thermally or ultrasonically fused to the side 28.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,578 to Gordon et al also discloses a method of attaching a pour spout 40 to a gable top carton 10, wherein the spout 40 is first placed on the open gable top such that a flange 46 overlies an opening 30 in the gable top, and wherein the flange 46 is then heated and pressed into contact with the gable top such that the flange 46 adheres to the gable top.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,434 to Jones et al discloses a method of securing a pouring spout 1 to a sloping side 2 of a gable top carton, wherein a hole is first cut in the sloping side 2, wherein the spout 1 is then inserted into the hole such that a flange 6 thereof extends around the hole, wherein a skirt section 4 of the spout 1 is then heated to bend and form a second flange around an opposite side of the hole, and wherein both of the flanges are heated to bond and seal with the material of the side 2.
The above methods of attaching spouts to gable top containers have the disadvantage, among others, that they employ thermal or ultrasonic devices to fasten a spout to a container. Such methods are accordingly relatively energy intensive and thus expensive, and, due to the time often required for thermal or ultrasonic fastening, may be difficult to integrate into the operation of a packaging machine such as the Cherry-Burrell machine.
In copending, commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 07/657,994, of inventors Abrams, Miller and Nash, filed Feb. 20, 1991, there are disclosed methods of and apparatus for attaching a pour spout to a planar portion of an article which obviates the need for thermal or ultrasonic fastening. In accordance with those methods and apparatus, a hole is punched into a side of a carton which may eventually become a sloping side of the gable top of the carton. Then, a bonding agent is applied to the carton side around the hole, and a spout is inserted into and placed about the hole such that the bonding agent bonds a flange of the spout to the carton side.
In order to optimize the ability of the pour spout to resist dislodgement from the hole under the influence of outward pulling forces (occurring, for example, when a cap of the spout is pulled off by a user), the spout/container configuration has been improved, as disclosed in copending, commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 07/753,855 of inventors Abrams, Miller, and Bird, filed Sep. 3, 1991. As disclosed therein, the spout includes a flange and a stem which extends axially from the flange. The spout is positioned on the container in a manner similar to that disclosed in above-referenced Ser. No. 07/657,994 and such that the flange is adhesively bonded to an exterior surface of a container side and such that the stem extends through the hole in the container side and into the interior of the container. A portion of the stem is turned back toward an interior surface of the container side to produce a mechanical engagement between the turned stem and the container which tends to resist a tendency of the pour spout to be pulled from the container.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and apparatus for attaching spouts to planar portions of articles such as containers wherein a stem of the spout is turned back against an interior side of the article.
It is a further object of the recent invention to provide such a method of and an apparatus for attaching spouts to planar portions of articles, wherein the method and apparatus are relatively non-energy intensive.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a method of and apparatus for attaching spouts to planar portions of articles, which are readily integratable into a standard forming and fitting machine, such as a Cherry-Burrell forming and filling machine.